A festive crowd filled The Woodland’s great hall on October 10, wrapping up Maplewood’s Division of Arts and Culture Coming Out Day festivities with a special film event produced by the Maplewood Film Society. The main attraction was a screening of the 1994 classic The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, directed by Stephan Elliott and starring Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and the late great Terence Stamp along with a few special guests: Artist, costume designer and performer Machine Dazzle was on hand, along with author Joe Dolce (Modern Psychedelics: The Handbook for Mindful Exploration) and entertainer Harmonica Sunbeam.
Harmonica Sunbeam. The Woodland, October 10, 2025. Photo by Chad Hunt
After enjoying some playful photo sessions in a makeshift desert set, attendees settled in to watch the film which follows three drag performers making their way across Australia’s barren landscape in search of love, family, and a welcoming audience. Though the film was made over 30 years ago, its themes – being your true self, making your own family and the power of a fabulous costume – feel just as relevant today.
“There are some beautiful, redeeming things about the film,” said Machine Dazzle in a panel hosted by Maplewood Film Society’s co-founder Angela Matusik after the screening. “My favorite character is Marion, a single mom who managed to raise a perfect child for the future that we really need right now,” referring to the character Tick’s son, who is accepting and proud of his gay parents. “It was revolutionary then and it’s still revolutionary now.”
Angela Matusik. Photo by Chad Hunt.
“There was some pushback when the film came out,” recalled Dolce, who was the editor-in-chief of Details magazine at the time. “A lot of gays were really angry about it. They thought it was superficial and not in tune with the times, because it was right on the heels of the AIDs epidemic. But I remember feeling like it was such a relief – a celebration of life.”
Performer Harmonica Sunbeam used the film as a litmus test for potential suitors. “I’d ask if they had seen Priscilla Queen of the Desert and see how they felt about it before I actually told them I do drag myself,” she said.
Matusik with Machine Dazzle. Photo by Chad Hunt.
The event was held on National Coming Out Day, and Machine Dazzle wondered how the movie would be produced if it was made today. ”This movie is loosely based on a true story, and real drag queens, but they couldn’t cast drag queens or gay actors because they weren’t bankable. Today we do have bankable, openly gay actors who could play those roles.”
“I don’t remember any openly gay actors from 1994,” added Dolce, who noted that there is a sequel in the works and that Terence Stamp had filmed it before he died this past July. “It may not be a road trip again, but more about what has happened to these characters as they aged.”
Joe Dolce with Harmonica Sunbeam. Photo by Chad Hunt.
But no discussion of Priscilla can be had without talking about the incredible, Academy Award-winning costumes which featured over 500 costumes, 200 headpieces and 72 wigs. “When I first saw that flip flop dress I thought, ‘Oh my god.’ It was a revolution. It was everything,” said Dazzle, who is known for making the extraordinary out of the ordinary, and whose creations were featured in a solo exhibit called Queer Maximalism at the Museum of Arts & Design in Manhattan.
All three panelists agreed there is great power in dressing up. “There’s something about it, there’s an armor, a regalia. I become something else,” said Dazzle.
Miss Sunbeam said this power is something everyone is familiar with, not just Queens and performers. “Drag is anytime you dress up more fabulously than you normally do,” she said. “ If you’re getting married, if you’re going to a wedding, if you’re going to court, you’re in drag. Even sports fans who paint their faces for a game,” she said, adding to a big round applause from the audience. “Honey, that is drag.”
To learn about future pop up film events, follow Maplewood Film Society on Instagram and Facebook.
